It is also literally insanely hostile for Waymo to respond like this.

The parent company, Alphabet, is valued over four trillion dollars.

The proper response would have been: "oh, terribly sorry for the inconvenience, we'll immediately turn it around, wait there".

If that was somehow actually possible, the next response should have been: "Oh, sorry that is impossible because of [actual reason X], we are terribly sorry for the inconvenience, where are you going to be staying, we'll immediately pack and ship it all to you FedEx".

Instead, they do this petty crap.

I'm no lawyer, but as soon as someone takes off with my stuff, that sounds like theft. Sure, I willingly put it in the trunk, but it was on a contract that they would deliver me and my luggage to the destination. Refusing to allow me to retrieve it, then requiring me to come get it is just outrageous.

At the very least, instead of offering the rider two rides to come fetch his stuff that they drove off with, would be to deliver it to his home at a time convenient to him.

This tells me the company is run by a bunch of greedy losers. Not anyone with whom I might want to associate or do business.

Really disappointing